Slow pace of stormwater drain work irks Trichy residents

Trichy: The moderate rainfall recorded in Trichy on Tuesday has troubled two major highways passing through residential areas where stormwater drain construction works are progressing at a slow pace. Residents urged the state highways department to complete the works before the onset of the southwest monsoon in June .The state highways department in two separate projects is widening the Trichy-Dindigul highway near Karumandapam and Vayalur main road Srinivasa Nagar in Trichy. Drains are also being constructed in both projects. As the 75 crore project is delayed due to a pending eviction drive, today’s rainfall worsened the traffic congestion. The rainwater has stagnated the work areas, posing a risk for pedestrians walking over the edge of the carriageway.“Karumandapam is a flood-prone area, already the drain infrastructure in residential areas is poor. The drain construction work on the highway must be expedited to prevent inundation and traffic snarls before the southwest monsoon,” C Balasubramanian, a resident of Selvanagar said. On Vayalur road, the state highways department is providing 1.5 metres wide stormwater drains which would be covered with cement concrete slabs to serve as pedestrian platforms. The works are progressing for over 6 months now, leaving the residents of Vayalur road to fret and fume. The officials had reasoned the challenges in constructing the drains amid a network of cables including telecommunication fibres, sewer lines, and drinking water pipelines crisscrossing the road for the delay. As the soil removed for the drains was not cleared, the vehicular movement on the two highways was impacted. Meanwhile, assessing the inundation condition for 25 mm rainfall on average in the city, corporation workers removed the plastic wastes that were clogging the drains.